


And There was a Sound of Thunder

by TheFalconWarrior



Series: Life is a Rollercoaster (A Big, Twisty One) [27]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Gen, I feel like the description makes it sound so ominous lol, Jason Todd is a good brother, Love how so many of the tags I want don't come up automatically, Thunderstorms, it's just a fluff piece, or something, sibling stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:01:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23763502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFalconWarrior/pseuds/TheFalconWarrior
Summary: In their line of work, there's a lot of reasons to hate loud noises. A whole litany of traumas and memories and nightmares to choose from.A bit of company always helps.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd
Series: Life is a Rollercoaster (A Big, Twisty One) [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1410376
Comments: 10
Kudos: 158





	And There was a Sound of Thunder

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #27: Thunder  
> This is the kind of thing that would usually end up at the bottom of a doc and sitting there for a year or so before I decide that since it exists I might as well post it, but. Well.

When Dick Grayson was four years old and living in a trailer in a circus, his mother told him the thunder was all the cloud animals having a party. 

Storms were scarier in a trailer. Howling winds, the beat of raindrops against the walls, and the vibrating, snapping _cracks_ of thunder echoing through the small space. So Mary would smile at the little boy curled up on the couch with his hands over his ears, and tell him that the cloud animals were having a party, with all their flashing lights and music, and they’d gotten too caught up in their dancing, stomping around like that. 

She’d crouch down in front of him, and hold out her hands, smile turning to a grin. “Shall we join them, little Robin?” 

And little Dickie, never one to turn down the chance to _move,_ would momentarily forget the storm, grin back, put his hands in hers and shout, “Let’s, Mami!” And she’d laugh, and they’d dance about the little trailer, ridiculously wild hopping dances typical of a four-year-old with too much energy, and when an especially loud crash of thunder reverberated through the trailer Mary would yell, “It’s an elephant!” or “It’s a dinosaur!” And before long, Dickie would stop jumping at the noises and shout alongside her. The biggest animals they could think of. Hippos, whales, tigers. 

Dick Grayson stood at a ridiculously large window, tapping his fingers against the glass as the rain poured down in blurry gray sheets. 

_Cchhhhh-rrrrr-acckkkkkkk._

“It’s a lion,” he murmured, and tapped harder against the window pane. 

A lion, a big, dancing lion made of marshmallow fluff. Not a gunshot. Not a gunshot, and he was inside, not standing out in the rain, rain soaking through his suit and dripping down his face from his water-sogged hair, cold and wet and rain and _cold_ with a dead body cooling on the fire escape not five feet away. 

No. It was a cloud lion stomping across the sky. 

Jason caught on pretty quick to the fact that he’d never sleep through a thunderstorm again. 

He’d dozed through the first few minutes of low, distant rumbles, but when the first _crack_ of thunder rattled through the manor like an all-encompassing boom shaking through a warehouse, Jason sighed and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. 

His bedroom was briefly lit up by a blinding flash through the window, and he was already kicking off his blanket and grabbing his hoodie off the desk chair. 

Time to find something to keep his head busy, if he had to be awake. 

Or maybe something to knock himself out. Hm. 

The one thing he did _not_ expect to find (although really, with this family, he should’ve) was a figure silhouetted in the living room window, one hand against the glass, watching the storm howl outside. 

Well, he’d planned on getting to the kitchen first—for coffee or hot chocolate, whatever he’d felt like once he’d gotten there—but. 

He leaned against the doorway and folded his arms. “Couldn’t sleep?” 

Another flash of white light, and a _crack._ A wince, but no answer. 

That...probably wasn’t good. 

Jason frowned. “Hey.” He straightened, stepping close enough to make out Dickie’s features in the dim glow from the window, unfocused eyes and slight frown even as his fingers twitched against the window. “Yo, Dickiebird. Dickie.” 

Dick blinked, and turned to face him. “Oh. Jay.” 

Jason felt his lips twist. “Nope. It’s Tim.” 

Dick snorted and rolled his eyes, turning (forcing) himself away from the window as Jason folded his arms over the back of the couch. “Couldn’t sleep?” 

Jason raised an eyebrow at him. “Not the only one, apparently.” 

Another crack of thunder, and Dick hummed, turning back to the window. “It’s...loud.” 

Jason smirked, but he couldn’t find it in himself to say anything more than, “Yeah.” 

Dick eyed him. “You wanna...?” 

“Not particularly, no. You?” 

“Nah.” 

Jason stepped away from the couch to join Dick at the window, propping an arm on his brother’s shoulder. 

They stared out the window for a little longer. Trees and sky and the drive down to the gates, all blurred by the rain. _Nice view_ , Jason thought but didn’t say. 

A flash of lightning and a crash of thunder the very same instant. Jason winced at the same time as Dick did. 

Neither of them looked away from the window. 

Dick huffed out something between a chuckle and a snort. “My mom always used to say it was just cloud animals having a dance party.” 

“Hm.” As they’d relaxed from the last shock they had both ended up kinda leaning on each other. Jason adjusted his arm so it was draped over Dick’s shoulders. “My mom said it was angels beating their drums.” 

Dick glanced at him, his small, uncertain smile lit up in the next flash of lightning. 

Jason waited, a moment, for the trailing rumbles of thunder to die down. 

Angels. Yes. Hm. Probably not the best line of thought at the moment. But he’d committed, so... 

“Always figured they had a band up there or somethin’, but they were terrible musicians.” 

Dick _snorted_ and Jason smirked. That was better. 

“Hot chocolate?” 

Dick, still smiling just the tiniest bit, nodded. Jason started to slip his arm off Dick’s shoulder, but Dick caught his hand and squeezed, briefly, before letting go. “Thanks, Jay.” 

No semantics tonight, he wasn’t in the mood. So he just nudged Dick’s shoulder with his own. “Sure.” 

**Author's Note:**

> So this was gonna have the whole family converging together in the end, and I am both surprised that a.) I wrote this and b.) I haven't written something like this already.  
> I've got a whole thing written for the next person to show up and random details for the third, so I might add more chapters later maybe ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
